Make a Decision

Poop Or Get Off The Pot.

I have a tendency to over-analyze situations and delay decisions. Tiffany hates this about me and is routinely telling me to just pick something. On the flip side, I don't make the mistake of buying unsalted butter when I needed salted butter :)

In Anthony Robbins' Awaken the Giant Within, he describes life as just a series of decisions. Nothing is fixed. "You have the power right now to control how you think, how you feel, and what you do. Everything you could ever want, tangible or not, is all within you." In other words, we are not victims of circumstance. We have the power to change and shape our destiny.

Unfortunately we delay decisions to avoid pain or find the perfect solution, which ultimately makes the situation worse. We look for that perfect choice, but in reality every choice has pros and cons. Mike Rowe, from Dirty Jobs, answered a fan's request for help finding the perfect job with: "Stop looking for the right career..focus on what's available...you can always quit...happiness doesn't come from a job."

Blunt but true. The great entrepreneurs from John Jacob Astor, Andrew Carnegie, Cornelius Vanderbilt, Henry Ford, Mary Kay Ash, Ray Kroc, & Bill Gates all took risks and that is why they succeeded. Some decisions worked out, while others didn't. John Maxwell says, "The greatest mistake we make is living in constant fear that we will make one." John Jacob Astor, America's first multi-millionaire, initially came to America with the intent of selling musical instruments, once in America he sold fur, then opium to the Chinese, then invested in real estate in New York. He was flexible and moved forward.

This fear that we avoid is a concept, a prediction, that only resides in our mind. It keeps us from living in the real world and recognizing that life is not so bad. George Kohlrieser encourages us to "Put the fish on the table. It's smelly and cleaning it is messy work, but you get a good meal in the end." Decisions can be scary and intimidating, but in the end there's always benefits as well as the opportunity to make another decision. Have desires and dreams, but avoid fixations. "Suffering is the frustration of our desires and expectations." - Siddhartha Gautama (Buddha)

Challenge for the week: THINK, DECIDE, DO